icebreaker
In a few short paragraphs Kristin DAgostino and Craig Foltz take us from Dickens to Alien Sex Fiend, landing us in Wellington; the focus of this issue Ode to Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui - the head of Mauis fish
It was the best of weather, it was the worst of weather, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way Charles Dickens (on wellington), A Tale of Two Cities Wellington is a place of forgetting. Not that you can forget the pearl-shaped crescent some folks call a harbour, but the wind blows the memories right off of you. For instance, you cannot remember when you changed your passeggiata1 route through Newtown to incorporate the latest display at the local micro-gallery. You forgot your favourite charm necklace at the back of the wardrobe when you moved out of the house on Roseneath Terrace where you idled away the nights watching the flights arc in and descend over the choppy water. Perhaps you became fascinated with the logos of airlines. Jetstar. Air New Zealand. Emirates. Qantas. Pacific Blue. Speaking of forgetting: muscle memory fades. Repeated actions lead to proficiency. Wellington is a place of remembering. You remember watching the Australian Open while eating leberkssemmel on Lambton Quay. You remember that Sweet Mamas brought you tomato sauce when you asked for ketchup. You remembered Aglaia, the Greek Goddess of beauty and grace came with her three sisters and embedded their objects of adornment through pieces of skin. She says, Forgetting is not the same as not knowing. Wellington is a place of introductions. You are 19 and adding to your vinyl collection. Think Bauhaus. Skinny Puppy. Buffalo Springfield. Virgin Prunes. Alien Sex Fiend. Bedhead. Executive Slacks. You sit in the corner of a caf courtyard and attempt to top the world record for the worlds longest conversation. You are 29 and flying somewhere over the Caribbean. Mosquito coast + Panama Canal = Boquette. You cannot shake the fear of contracting malaria while travelling or was that just a chloroquine nightmare? You are 43 and subtracting from your vinyl collection. Kurt Vile. Kate Bush. Thomas Dolby. Elvis Costello.
Neil Young. The Muttonbirds. X-Ray Specs. You wait in the corner of a caf for the next rumbling earthquake. You are 110. The end of the day now is not the same as the end of the day before. The Goddess of Adornment adds, Im not just waxing your car. Wellington celebrates the impossibility of its own events. It celebrates the impossibility of its own verticality. What does this have to do with Central America, you might ask? The joke always starts the same: A situationist walks into a bar As for logos and signs, who can forgive us if they live on in the stalks of our own memories? Suddenly it all makes sense. In issue #3 of Overview Sharon Fitness interviews Karl Fritsch and Lisa Walker about Wellington now that the dust has settled. Suni Gibson expounds on the DIY model of The See Here. Cath Dearsley reviews The See Here show as seen at Masterworks this past June. Karren Dale reports back on Kevin Murrays Charm School held in Wellington earlier in 2011. Becky Bliss announces two new projects coming out of Wellington; The HandShake project and the 2012 JEMposium conference.
Congratulations are in order to NZ Jewellery show finalists Jane Dodd, Mathew McIntyreWilson, Kvetoslava Flora Sekanova, and Sarah Walker Holt. We wish you luck, see you in Wellington this September. As always, please let us know what you are up to and thinking about. A couple of other housekeeping details: We now have page numbers and, for cataloguing ease, you will find an ISSN number at the back of each issue.
dialogue I
Sharon Fitness talks to Lisa Walker and Karl Fritsch about jewellery life in New Zealand....
Sharon: What are the best things you have discovered since relocating to Wellington? Lisa: Finally having my mum, sister, and brother really involved in our lives. Loving where I live which is very near the sea in an amazing little forested valley. Tui and cabbage trees outside the house. Awesome schools. Newtown. I was about to write less stress but actually Ive been busier here than I was in Munich. Simply being back in my amazing homeland, incredible. Karl: Living near the coast is fantastic, a complete new concept for a boy that grew up in the mountains. And some new adventures - for the first time in my life I own a motorbike, ride around Red Rocks and very recently started surfing. I love the atmosphere of Cuba St and especially Number 1 Combination Noodle Soup at the Satay Noodle House, and the friendly people and the less stressful school system for the kids. Sharon: Your former hometown is best known here for hosting Schmuck and Oktoberfest. If you had a magic wand, what qualities of Munich would you bring to Wellington? Lisa: Some of the art galleries and museums that host very special shows from all over. The Italian restaurant in our apartment building. Snow (not longer than a month). Karl: Id bring a beer garden with no wind, and certainly a leberkssemmel, Augustiner beer and some other sausages. Sharon: Both of your work has been infiltrated by items found in your new surroundings; shed building, TradeMe and Newtown market stalls; have Wellington people and its culture also had an influence on your new pieces? Lisa: I dont know how to answer that yet. My work has gone through shifts and changes but its hard to judge how much being in Wellington has influenced that. Except for the local hardware store whose array of colourful car lacquers has definitely influenced an aesthetic Ive been trying out for years but never quite pulled off, now I can. I did make some pieces last year that were consciously about the move.
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Karl: Sure, I think Im taking in a lot intuitively; its still so fresh. Some kiwi icons like the Tiki have been sneaking very consciously into some rings already. Sharon: From an outsiders point of view, how do you find the New Zealand contemporary jewellery scene compared to Europe? Lisa: Very active with interesting things happening, smaller of course. Karl: Small but very enthusiastic, not as competitive. Sharon: As the worlds most fabulous contemporary jewellery couple, you are in a very strong position to change how jewellery is exhibited and regarded here. What challenges have you come across so far when dealing with NZ art and jewellery galleries? Lisa: I showed at Masterworks last year and was happy to receive a great space where I could try out some presentation ideas. Then at Bartley and Company Art in Wellington where there was again a great empty space to experiment in. I was meant to be having a show at the Christchurch Art Gallery opening in September where I would have received a fantastic space, but unfortunately with the terrible earthquakes and civil defense and the council occupying the gallery, the opening date has been put off, hopefully next year. Im in a group show at Te Papa at the moment called Collecting Contemporary where my work (and two other jewellers - Warwick Freeman and Octavia Cook) is being shown in a massive, spectacular space alongside work by other artists like Seraphine Pick, Michael Parekowhai, Paratene Matchitt. The show is of work that has been collected by Te Papa in the last five odd years. Karl: The hardest challenge was last month - the one showcase Fingers show - trying very hard to manipulate the whole gallery by only occupying one showcase. I enjoy working with fine art galleries like Hamish Mckay in Wellington where there is pretty much an empty room to present and invent some form of simple presentation for my rings. Or the collaboration in the Gesamtkunsthandwerk show with Francis Upritchard and Martino Gamper where my rings quite naturally just find a place in, on or between each others pieces. At the moment this is the most enjoyable - through the different context I see different aspects of my own work. Sharon: And the big question on everybodys mind: Will you stay? Lisa: I hope so. Karl: There is no plan to leave.
Still Workshop Images by Graeme Marshall, courtesy of Fran Allisons MIT research project Conversations a series of video interviews with jewellers in NZ and Europe that will be accessible through a website of the same name in 2012.
Fran will be talking to Overview about this project in greater length in the coming issues
dialogue II
Cath Dearsley takes a good look at The See Here group show that was in Masterworks Gallery in Auckland during June.
The See Here jewellery collective are a group of nine Wellington jewellers whose work sits on varying positions along the conceptual/ installation spectrum. The invitation for this show, to translate the collectives initiatives into Masterworks front gallery is a recognition of the currency of these innovative practices within New Zealands contemporary applied arts field. The collective developed their own micro gallery in Newtown in response to the lack of exhibition space for contemporary jewellery in Wellington. By taking control they have created their own city niche designed to invite conceptual possibilities and take the work to the street. A peek into the world of contemporary jewellery practice is offered to everyday passers- by in a suburban window space, an egalitarian approach to spreading the jewellery word. The collective comprises a group of Whitireia graduates, as well as their mentor Peter Deckers. This initiative can be in no small part to the inspiration the younger artists draw from Peters drive and passion for creating significant opportunities for emerging jewellers. The group choose to completely whitewash Masterworks prominent Ponsonby road window, which seemed to confuse the public, Sarah Read, Objects of Desire #1 suggesting its closure. The mimicking of a space that is being renovated arguably wasnt the best way to promote the show. It did however soften the gallery light, working well for Sarah Reads ethereal piece, Objects of desire #1, a work based on her unrequited love for another artists work, a pinhole camera. Rendered on a floaty silk drape, Sarah created a delicate 3D drawing in stitch and silk.
She further took this idea of objects loved yet lost, inviting viewers to fill out a request form, offering to create a specific piece for them in exchange for their story of loss. This seemingly brave undertaking to all and sundry, came across visually as a bit clunky to the exquisite handcrafted piece (although a show of the work created from such endeavours would be well worth seeing). It was fitting that Peter Deckers Shadow Makeweights 1-8 was a further exploration of his series that he showcased last year in two consecutive shows, The beauty patch, and pleasure beast: In moving targets in the Masterworks THINKspace. This time around, brooches of animals were illuminated on the gallery floor, through the rays of magnifying glass. Playing with suspension, light, silhouette and shadow, Peter continued his investigation of highlighting selected animals, marking and honouring them as creatures hunted as prey by mankind. Tara Bradys piece Shelf life offered an interactive work, utilising a date stamp and ink pad, tempting viewers to choose and stamp themselves with their own best before and expiration date. This drew a timid response from an audience noticeably uneasy with choosing to name the date of their own demise. Nadine Smiths beautiful yet slightly disquietening take on the human lungs, All I Need, was crafted from dialysis tubing and suspended from a laboratory stand.
Vivien Atkinsons work was a take on the sculptural possibilities of the neckpiece. By using picture frame off cuts for materials, she simultaneously makes a swipe into the fine arts from the jewellery sphere, appropriating their materials in a gallery setting, whist playing with ideas of portrait, and the framing of a face. Mathew McIntyre- Wilsons collection of jewellery ratbags, were weighted, hanging purses crafted from the pelts of rats that infest his home territory. These oddly charming pieces seemed to float in the gallery.
Almost as a contrast to these abstracted works were the more comfy familiar jewellery forms: a series of brooches from Sunni Gibson, who celebrates modern materials and the joy of colour, as well a tight little group of industrial flat steel brooches with kinetic budlike forms from Kelly McDonald. These sat alongside a series of rings fashioned from bank statements, Sign up 2010, in which Jhana Millars alludes of
the greed of capitalist consumerism and the banking industry. This show was an eclectic taster from established and emerging jewellers committed to situating contemporary jewellery as relevant in the public eye. You can follow their exhibition programme by signing up at theseehere.com
- Cath Dearsley
monologue
Karren Dale, 3rd year student from Whitireia Polytechnic, reports on the Charm School workshop run by Kevin Murray in March this year.
On receiving emails with Charm School, in the subject line I was intrigued to say the least. Us contemporary jewellers can be very sentimental about the real jewellery terms and the idea of real jewellery. We were asked to bring along a charm to share with the group and this took some time going through the individual objects and discussing what they mean in a universal sense but also in a personal sense to the owner. Keri Mei had a touching story of her pounamu that was taken on a journey with her up the river from which it was derived and Vivien wowed us all with her mother in laws amazing charm necklace that had been found in a wardrobe. Inevitably we all loved touching and talking about these objects and a highlight was Lynn Kelly showing us some of her amazing charm pieces that she made with true and albeit practical meaning. Kevin embarked on a discussion about Mana and its relationship to Fate, which after lengthy dialogue the group was able to dispel as a cultural misrepresentation in terminology and so we let that discussion lie there. After a brisk lunch it was back to the room for more slide shows and discussion. The day was a long one and we all were very much looking forward to the Japanese dinner and drinks planned for our Saturday evening wind down. It was a lot of fun to socialise at a large table with other jewellers and friends, partake in a few wines, then home to rest up for the next day.
The first morning was a buzz with catching up with old studio friends, meeting new ones and of course spying Kevin and wondering what he was like! Us gals (no men on this weekend aside from the tutors and technician), wanted to coffee and tea all day but alas we had to head to the studio and start this charm school. After introductions and getting a general idea of what we all hoped for from the weekend, Kevin took us through a power point presentation with highlights of the charm, the different forms it has held, the many varied cultures who hold it in high esteem and also the response to the magical quality of the object.
The Sunday was a making day for the brief which had been discussed on the Saturday. We were to make a marquette for a faux commission from a person which we had been paired with. Mine was with Kathryn Yates and I was to make a charm to help her over the unreasonable fear of getting malaria whilst she travelled. A challenge for me to say the least and the making day felt unreasonably short . Kevin went around the studio while the making was in progress to spend individual time with as many of us as he could to discuss what we were doing in response to the brief, offering suggestions as well as critique on the finer details. At the end of a furious making day the marquettes turned out to be elaborately constructed pieces with a lot of background.
contemplation! In fact I think Spring even came up with several alternatives and varied uses for her ones, wow! Everyone stunned with what they produced and it was great to see the different way our brains had processed the brief and the wonderful objects that can come from a day in the studio with Kevin Murray. Like many weekends this one seemed to fly and before I knew it goodbyes were said and I was in my car driving back to Wellington thinking about fantasy, magic and the meaning and care we imbue in the objects that we have and hold in our daily life. - Karren Dale
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The See Here and Auckland jeweller, Renee Bevan, foster cross cultural relations with the latest offering at The See Here.
Renee Bevan i wear Mixed media. 2011 Photographers; Mark McClean, Caryline Boreham, The See Here Wearer, Martin Ball The See Here June July 2011
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soundbite
We listen out to the voices from the past and see what was going on in the Details in the 1980s.
announcement I
A ground-breaking global jewellery project
HandShake is an innovative collaboration between 12 selected New Zealand jewellery graduates and the heroes that inspire them. The invited jewellery graduates have been given the opportunity to select and make work (side by side or, by distance) alongside an established maker as their apprentice. Sydney is the first city to exhibit the work after the first 6 months of the collaboration.
Exhibition 1: 9 21 August 2011, Studio 20/17, Sydney Exhibition 2: 9 11 September 2011, The New Zealand Jewellery Show, Wellington Exhibition 3: 8 21 December 2011, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland The project uses new technologies to maximum effect, enabling the graduates to develop and refine work alongside their mentors in a virtual studio space with a website window. This project is the brainchild of contemporary artist and jeweller Peter Deckers. At the start of 2011 Deckers invited selected graduate jewellers to name the artists that most inspire them. He then approached these distinguished and internationally-established jewellery and art icons, offering them the opportunity to act as mentors in this collaborative two-year project. The response was an enthusiastic yes from the 12 idols. The result? A lively website, touring exhibitions, a catalogue, and an exceptional learning experience for all involved. The works resulting from the first phase of this partnership between mentor and apprentice will be shown in the first HandShake exhibition, which runs from 9 to 21 August 2011 at Studio 20/17 in Sydney, as part of Sydney Design 2011, then crosses to Wellington as the feature exhibition at the New Zealand Jewellery Show on 10-11 September 2011 and finally at Masterworks Gallery, Auckland 8 21 December 2011. Visit the HandShake website to learn more about the project and keep track of the unfolding leaps of progress achieved by the inspired and inspiring apprentices:
www.handshakejewellery.com
Apprentices - Mentors: Debbie Adamson - Hanna Hedman, Becky Bliss - Fabrizio Tridenti, Nadene Carr - Lucy Sarneel, Kristin Dagostino - Judy Darragh, Gillian Deery - Estela Saez Vilanova, Sharon Fitness - Lisa Walker, Sam Kelly - Rian De Jong, Jhana Millers - Suska Mackert, Neke Moa - Karl Fritsch, Lynsay Raine - Andrea Wagner, Sarah Read - Iris Eichenberg, Jessica Winchcombe - Warwick Freeman.
Contact details: Lynsay Raine: (spokesperson for the apprentices) lynsay.raine@gmail.com High res image: Peter Deckers (curator/organiser) p.deckers@xtra.co.nz, +64 21 0234 1233
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announcement II
JEMposium: Jewellery or What 4-day international jewellery symposium: 10 13 Feb 2012 New Zealands International Contemporary Jewellery symposium JEMposium will be held from 10 13 February 2012 in Wellington, the arts capital of New Zealand. Experienced and emerging contemporary jewelers as well as collectors, curators, critics and jewellery enthusiasts from New Zealand and abroad will come together to reflect and discuss current jewellery practices and trends. Themes and topics covered during this four-day international event will be lead by four of the worlds best informed and experienced international jewellery artists: Ted Noten (The Netherlands), Manon van Kouswijk (The Netherlands/Aus), Fabrizio Tridenti (Italy), Karl Fritsch (Germany/NZ) and international historian Liesbeth den Besten (The Netherlands). These five keynote speakers will join some of New Zealands most influential jewellers, including Warwick Freeman, Lisa Walker and Andrea Daly. Reinventing the traditional symposium format, JEMposiums keynote speakers and invited guests will present their ideas through a mixture of formal and PechaKucha 20x20 presentations. Which is why JEMposium takes discussions on jewellery a step further and invites audiences to translate the delivered theory into practice by engaging in masterclass feedback workshops. The mastercraft workshops will be delivered by world renowned experts: Ted Noten (NL), Manon van Kouswijk (NL/AUS), Karl Fritsch (FRG/NZ), Fabrizio Tridenti (IT), and Liesbeth den Besten (NL). Nationwide multiple jewellery exhibitions are scheduled to take place parallel to JEMposium, making this symposium a national focus. This collective arrangement of events will undoubtedly solidify our main goal: share with audiences the importance of acknowledging contemporary jewellery practices as an artistic art form, alongside fine arts and other contemporary media. For additional information and to view the events programme, visit JEMposiums website at: www.jemposium.co.nz
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small talk
Jewellery exhibitions, events, and workshops
Auckland Fingers Gallery July - The Dowse Gold Award Recipients Show August - 2011 Graduating Students Award Masterworks Gallery July - Smother, Victoria McIntosh - Neckware 8, group show - Jewellery Box, Kate Barton - THINKspace, Matthew McIntyre Wilson August - Jewellery Box, Lucy Pierpoint - The Auckland Art Fair, 4-7 August, Viaduct Events Centre, Auckland
Wellington The See Here July - iwear, Renee Bevan August - Tara Brady Find out more at: www.theseehere.com
Christchurch The National Christchurch Arts Festival program is now out. Festival opens on the 12th August. The National is proud to present jeweller Jacqui Chans Host-A-Brooch, an interactive project open to the public. Look out for our big container next to the Telstra Clear tent in Hagley Park! More info and links to come...
Sydney Studio 20/17 August - Handshake - Prentice & Prodigy Find out more at: www.handshakejewellery.com Projects to look out for Broach of the Month Club has launched its third outing. Find out more at: http://broachofthemonth.com/
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aside
Congratulations go to the four finalists in the Contemporary Jewellery section of The New Zealand Jewellery Show Awards, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, 9-11 September, 2011.
Jane Dodd
Sarah Walker-Holt
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happily brought to you by The Jewellers Guild of Greater Sandringham ISSN 2230-5416
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